This Time Around
by 0nlooker
Summary: [Oneshot] One hundred years. One hundred and three… One hundred and twenty-four… Was the number of years he spent waiting for him… Still... he found no sign of his raven-haired lover. Deep inside him he knew something had changed… There was something different about this incarnation. Never has he waited so long for his lover to appear. It terrified him.


**Author's Notes: **

If you can read this... I thank you and applaud you for your bravery to read this oneshot. I don't think I would have enough courage to if I didn't write this...

This oneshot was slightly inspired by the song "You're Beautiful - James Blunt"  
It's an oldie I know... but I missed listening to the song so I played it again. You can try to listen to it playing in the background as your reading this.  
I cannot believe I actually wrote this...

I've only looked over this for ten minutes, so if you see any errors... point them out and I'll fix them tomorrow :)

Two words...  
I'm Sorry.

m(_ _)m

* * *

One hundred years.

One hundred and three…

One hundred and twenty-four…

Was the number of years he spent waiting for _him_…

Still... he found no sign of his raven-haired lover. Deep inside him he knew something had changed… There was something different about this incarnation.

Never has he waited so long for his lover to appear. It terrified him.

As Eren exhaled white puffs of smoke formed in front of him. He blew hot breath on his gloved hand hoping it was enough to warm his freezing fingers.

The sidewalk in front of him was covered in an endless road of pure white snow. He could hear the snow crunch underneath his boots. Winter was always his favourite season. It reminded him of his most cherished memories between him and his raven-haired lover. How they would snuggle in front of the fireplace laying on the softest rug they could afford and wearing nothing but their bare skin.

They would make love in front of the warm fire thinking about nothing other than their time spent together.

Once again, Eren tried to warm his fingers with his hot breath. Still... it made no difference. Maybe he should grab a hot drink.

Winter this year was beyond freezing; he turned left at the end of the street and was assaulted with the mass of people leaving the subway in order to get home.

He was surrounded by thousands- no millions of people, smiling, laughing yet he felt so alone. He had no one to accompany him other than his memories of the past.

He didn't have a job for this 'lifetime'. He still had copious amount of money he had saved over his life. He decided that he would once again spend this 'life span' travelling. He travelled great distances for years, until he came back 'home'.

Home was where the Three Great Walls of Maria, Rose and Sina once stood.

Home was where he lived with his parents, adopted sister, best friend, comrades in arms, commander, squad leader and lover...

Home was where he was born.

Home was where his lover died.

Home was where 'Eren Jaeger-Ackerman' died.

Because now he was just 'Eren Jaeger'.

He shook the nostalgia out of his system when he saw the familiar sign of his favourite coffee shop.

He twisted the doorknob open and a familiar tingling of bells rung. All of his senses were assaulted with the comforting smell of freshly brewed coffee, the toasty air from the small fireplace in the far corner and quiet conversations from regulars.

He was greeted by his usual barista with her usual cheerful self. He greeted her back with a quiet 'hello' and small smile of his own. He told her if he could have his usual. She grinned and told him to sit on his usual seat, in the corner of the shop facing the glass window overlooking the subway exit.

It wasn't a five star view but Eren saw it like it was worth more than that.

Because what he saw wasn't a gate covered in graffiti nor the layers upon layers of posters that had accumulated over the years. But the symbol of 'peace'; he knew that it was an unusual outlook on such a simple subway exit.

To Eren this was 'peace' where humans were not surrounded by walls only to breed like cattle and never see what was ever outside those towering 'fences'. They were free to travel for kilometres without fearing for their lives.

Eren knew that he shouldn't stay 'home' for a while, because it always made him reminisce of his early years. But for some reason he felt a gravitational pull in his mind that forced him to stay for more than a month. He needed/wanted to leave but his body won't let him, forcing him to stay rooted to his birth town for some unknown reason.

The sound of porcelain clinking brought by his barista shook him out of his thoughts. A cup of freshly brewed Assam tea. Once again the familiar smell of the tea brought up countless memories of him and his lover. Assam tea had always been his Captain's favourite tea. Eren hated the bitter tea but he forced himself to get used to the taste because it was the closest thing that would taste like _him_.

The hundreds-no the countless of kisses that passed between them always tasted like the bitter tea. He knew deep, deep down he shouldn't keep reminiscing about him but he just couldn't stop.

Sometimes he wished he could just end his life and move on with the next one.

But…

_He_ had saved his life… He could never willingly let the man's sacrifice go in vain. But the sacrifice of his lover had been a curse to him, even more so when he spent his time alone. So he was doomed to forever roam the world alone.

Eren could never love another unless they were his raven-haired lover; he hated the cruel fate the man gave him yet he was as equally thankful.

Eren gripped the rim his cup tilting his head back in a smooth motion to drink his tea. Still in remembrance for his lover's habit of drinking tea.

He smiled in the grimaced he made as he drank the bitter drink. Yet… as the brunet man slowly lowered his cup his beautiful blue-green eyes glazed over.

* * *

The girl behind the counter knew of the brunet sitting in one of the seats facing the front of the coffee shop. For the past month the man came back religiously at four pm on the dot every single day. As she wiped the counters down she still remembered the first time the man came into the shop, she felt the air in her lungs escape without her knowledge.

The tall brunet man had taken off his jacket to reveal an expensive looking green V-neck shirt. It emphasised the man's sharp collarbones, tantalising bronze skin and a black necklace tucked underneath his shirt.

She knew once the man took his coat off he had every man and woman in the shop look at him with desire in their eyes. The brunet's stunning blue-green eyes did not help whatsoever. The barista had estimated the man's age to be around twenty-two to twenty-three years old, no more no less. And yet the aura she felt around the youthful man seemed to speak of age, maturity and wisdom that went beyond his age.

Everything the brunet did was done with absolute grace as though he had practiced those movements for countless years. Even the unusual way he drank his tea.

Today the man wore an oversized cashmere sweater once again beautifying his skin. As she placed the cup of tea beside the captivating brunet, she stared that the man's left hand and saw no ring. But a ring did not symbolise the man's availability.

She noticed the man was startled out of his daydream when the cup of tea was placed in front of him. She said her apologies but was stopped by the brunet's gloved hand.

She noticed the man wear the black-laced necklace once again. She unconsciously wondered out loud about the accessory on the brunet's neck. When she looked up she noticed the man in question widened his eyes.

She was mortified. She quickly said her apologies for asking him such a weird question. Her face grew hot from embarrassment. But the man only gave her a small smile, if the female barista didn't notice the look in the brunet's eyes she would have fainted from the utterly rare smile the man gave her. But instead she saw the endless sorrow in those hypnotising hues of the man's irises. She felt her throat tighten, she was about to apologise once more but the man's movement made her stop.

The man took his necklace out of his sweater revealing a golden key and two golden rings varying in sizes. All three items were worn out with age but it looked well cared for.

_Wedding rings…_

Before she had the chance to apologise, the brunet said it was fine and slowly tucked his necklace back, safe inside his sweater.

She bowed and quietly left the man alone to drink his tea in peace.

* * *

It had been a while since he showed someone his necklace. But he felt it was fine to show his barista the necklace, because after the whole month, he had grown fond of her. She reminded him of some of the people he met centuries past. Their smile was similar.

When he had finally gotten halfway through his cup; he noticed a familiar figure standing near the gate of the subway station.

He froze, for how long he will never know.

It was a man.

With a short stature, pale skin, neat raven hair styled with an undercut wearing a black coat that reached his knees paired with black slacks. The man also wore a white scarf that was styled in a way that resembled a cravat.

Him…

It was HIM...

Him-Levi…

_LEVI!_

Eren was thankful for the fact he was sitting down and had already placed his cup down. Because if he didn't not only would he have dropped his cup but he would have collapsed on the floor as well.

He felt the centuries worth of waiting, the endless loneliness his eternal life granted him disappear the moment he laid eyes on the man. His toes curled inside his boots, his fingers formed in to tight fists, his chest constricted, his breath came out in uneven puffs as though he just ran a marathon.

Then he noticed the raven-haired male look him in the eye. He saw the man freeze, Eren could barely make out the slight widening of the man's eyes from across the streets.

Eren didn't notice that he had stopped breathing. The precious seconds they spent looking at each other felt as though years had gone by.

The background noise, the countless of people in between them blurred out. They didn't matter. They were nothing more than smudges of moving colours in between them.

Eren's lungs were screaming from the lack of oxygen, it forced him to greedily take a lung full of sweet air only to make him exhale it in slowly. A breath riddled with emotion.

Pure joy, happiness, nostalgia.

Love…

After years of waiting Eren was high… High in happiness.

They stood there frozen for what seemed like years but in reality it was only two minutes.

Just moments after Eren had finally gathered enough courage to finally stand.

His emotional high was suddenly brought down to a low. In the form of a small child with a familiar raven hair aged five or six wearing children's winter coat tackling the older man's leg. Shocking the man to break their eye contact.

But the shock did not end there… Another form came in the picture only this time it was a woman with blonde hair. Eren watches quietly as the beautiful blonde woman embraced and kissed the raven-haired man on the lips.

It felt as though his whole world came crumbling down, the very ground he stood on collapsed underneath him.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

He chanted endlessly inside his head. He screamed internally after the raven-haired man to look back and tell him that it was a lie but to no avail. The man linked his arm around the blonde and held the raven-haired child only to walk away. Never looking back at the forlorn brunet sitting in the coffee shop across the street.

Eren was conflicted, he knew even if he introduced himself to the raven-haired male even without the memories, his body would remember him.

Eren knew that he could steal the raven-haired male from the blonde woman.

Eren KNEW the man would fall in love with him.

But…

He could never take the raven-haired man away from his child. Eren knew his morals were against breaking up the man's family. And yet he still yearned for those slender fingers to lovingly caress his skin, those powerful arms to embrace him, those blue-grey eyes to stare at him as though he was the most precious thing in the world, those soft pink lips to memorise every inch of skin once more.

Eren took several shaky breaths before pulling out the correct amount the cup of tea costed him, as well as a generous tip to his barista. Placing them gently on the wooden table right next to his cold unfinished Assam tea.

The bell on the coffee shop door rung it's familiar tone as the brunet turned to leave the coffee shop.

* * *

The very next day the female barista stared longingly at the clock that showed her that the time was three fifty-eight pm. She silently willed time to hurry up and tell her that the time was four pm.

When four pm finally rolled, there was no brunet entering the shop instead the brunet was replaced by a short raven-haired male equally captivating. The man quickly looked around the shop as though looking for someone.

The raven-haired man marched his way to the female barista with a question.

"Do you know if the brunet man who sat by the window yesterday came by yet?" His voice was deep; it was just as captivating as his beautiful face.

"No, he's actually late today," She commented sadly, "He usually arrives four pm on the dot. This is the first time he's late."

The raven haired man looked confused at his actions for a second, asking himself what he was doing in a coffee shop looking for a man he's never met before.

The night before his dreams were staked by a stunning youth with ocean eyes and bronzed skin. The man was laughing at him; he knew that he too was unbelievably happy. The younger man wore a white V-neck shirt that was drenched in what seemed like seawater. The younger man splashed water on him, he realised that he was dreaming of an unfamiliar beach. The brunet was splashing at the water's edge when he suddenly turned around arms out wide with the happiest grin he's ever seen on a person.

That morning when he woke up, he felt warm tears rolled down his face. It's been a whole decade since he last cried. Yet a single dream of a boy he's only met- no seen yesterday made tears flow uncontrollably.

He had to know who this man was.

And here he was hours later in an unfamiliar coffee shop across the subway station waiting for a man he saw yesterday.

A day passes.

Two days... Four...

A week and half had passed since the brunet had stopped coming to the coffee shop across the station.

The female barista felt that her job had grown to become a bit boring without a familiar brunet entering her shop to order a cup of Assam tea and stare out the shop window.

During the time when the brunet was missing, a raven-haired man had replaced him.

But he too had stopped coming since yesterday. She glanced at the clock as it hits six pm on the dot. It was time to close to the shop.

As she wiped the tables down, she wonders when the brunet would come back.

* * *

Three years had passed and the coffee shop across the station had closed down. During those three years not once did the female ex-barista see the brunet nor the raven-haired male once again.

She blew hot air on her hands hoping it was enough to warm her freezing fingers.

It was late at night as she walked down the familiar sidewalk riddled with snow.

Winter was freezing this year...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I don't know why I do this to myself... I mean I seriously love this two together, so why am I writing this oneshot?

-  
I have something to confess I physically cried when I was writing this... Because if you think about it, if a character is immortal and his fated lover isn't. There is a chance that they won't be together at least in one lifetime. ( )

I would love to know what you think about this!  
Was it too corny?


End file.
